On Saturday Alison Hyde took on the Punk Panther Harrogate Hustle challenge, a very friendly and well organised half marathon with 732 feet of elevation. Alison had a great run finishing in 2 hours 46 minutes placing her 3rd F60. The cheesy chips at the end went down well.

Sunday saw the running of the fourth race in the East Yorkshire Cross Country League. At least the persistent dull, cold weather is good for running but there was a very sharp wind on the more exposed sections of the 6.5 mile route which started at the vineyard in Drewton. Being on the southern edge of the woods there were some steep hills to navigate totalling 860 feet of elevation and it was claggy underfoot round the field margins and woodland tracks. It was a good turnout from PRC and first back was the speedy Mike Richmond in 46 minutes 59 seconds placing him 24th out of a total of 282 runners. Keeping his good form, Richard Robinson wasn’t far behind in 47 minutes 46 seconds, 32nd overall. Simon Jones was 3rd M55 with his time of 48 minutes 15 seconds. The ever fleet of foot, Kelly Richmond, was next in 51 minutes which placed her 3rd female out of a total of 109. Paul Simpson was very close behind in 51 minutes 15 seconds. Kirsty Brown’s time of 52 minutes 42 seconds placed her 9th female. Then came Charles Corbett in 54 minutes 18 seconds and Dave Owuor in 57 minutes 30 seconds. Karen Farmer-Scott was 2nd F60 in 57 minutes 42 seconds. Paul Smith was hot on her heels clocking 57 minutes 53 seconds. Still in the top half of the field, Lucy Saggers crossed the finish line in 58 minutes 31 seconds. Lucy was closely followed by Rich Johnson in 59 minutes 1 second, Julie Ventress in 63 minutes 39 seconds, Suzy Hodgson in 65 minutes 43 seconds, Alice Hayter in 68 minutes 16 seconds, Dean Wise in 76 minutes 46 seconds and Serena Partridge in 77 minutes 19 seconds. It was a tight battle all the way between Mike Punchard and Sally Brown with Mike just winning out with his signature sprint finish in 77 minutes 32 seconds. Sally’s time of 77 minutes 46 seconds placed her 3rd F65. Lastly came yours truly in 82 minutes 39 seconds, simply pleased to actually cross the finish line and be 1 minute less slow than last year!!

On the other side of the world and in glorious sunshine Andrew Bates ran the Hawkes Bay 10k race in New Zealand. He made short work of the stunning 2 lap course around the Ahuriri Estuary crossing the finish line first in 52 minutes 23 seconds. There were only 3 others in the race but it’s still a win!